Top United Nations officials have argued in favour of better protection for journalists as well as greater efforts to ensure that those who kill or intimidate them are brought to justice. This was even as they stressed that freedom of the press is a basic foundation of peace and democracy.
An inter-agency forum on the safety of journalists, hosted by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris, heard calls for UN offices and entities to work more closely together to protect media professionals.
“Let us do our utmost to ensure that the media can do its indispensable work on behalf of humankind,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a message to the forum, delivered on his behalf by Kiyo Akasaka, the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.
He noted that cyber-surveillance, digital harassment and censorship of the Internet had emerged as new barriers to media freedom.
“The press can never be free if journalists and media workers are under attack. Those who murder, kidnap, harass, arrest or intimidate journalists not only stop the free flow of information, they stifle the ability of millions of people to have their stories told.
“Quite apart from the violence and the suffering such crimes bring,
I am also dismayed when they are not thoroughly investigated and prosecuted. Only by putting an end to impunity can we break this vicious cycle,” said the Secretary-General.
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